The present invention relates, in general, to non-motorized carts which are moved around a track.
In automotive assembly plants, it is known to use carts for accumulating automotive parts or components used in the assembly of an automotive vehicle on supply lines spaced from the main assembly line. Typically, a wheeled, non-motorized cart has cam followers which slide along a track mounted in the assembly plant floor. The cart is pushed by an operator along the track between various parts containers or bins located around the track. The operator transfers the required number of components from each bin into the cart in order to supply the assembly line with the proper components for each vehicle being assembled.
A prior art cart movement control track used in a vehicle assembly plant is shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. As shown in FIG. 11, the cart track was placed immediately in front of the parts bins. This required the operator to push the cart from the inside of the track, and to step over the track to reach the parts bins located outside of the track. This creates a trip hazard for the cart operator as well as an ergonomic issue for the operator as the operator would frequently step on the edges of the raised track.
Further, the ends of the continuous track loop form a single large radius arc. This requires a considerable amount of valuable floor space within the assembly plant to accommodate the track since the space inside of the track could not be used for other purposes.
It would desirable to provide cart movement control track which addresses these problems.